People who tuned into O’Hara Council’s Zoom meeting Tuesday night got an earful that wasn’t about township parks or sewers.

Council was the victim of at least two Zoom bombers who unloaded a barrage of vulgarities throughout the first 20 minutes of the remote meeting.

The pranksters were able to circumvent council’s repeated efforts to mute them until finally leaving the call.

Some board members called to postpone the meeting but the aggravation was “something we have to endure in order to make the meeting open to everyone,” Councilman Chuck Vogel said.

Zoom bombing has made it way into local government since online meetings have become the norm during the coronavirus. In May, Leechburg Area School Board ended a meeting abruptly when a participant showed a pornographic image.

In July, the Allegheny Valley School Board had to endure interruptions of inappropriate language and photos before being able to continue with its meeting.

“Some people think they’re amusing but they’ll be prosecuted to the full extent,” O’Hara Manager Julie Jakubec said.

When the meeting was able to carry on, talk circled back to council’s vote during its Aug. 4 workshop to rename the former Squaw Valley Park.

Resident Sharon Shepard blasted council for what she called a sneaky move and one that ignored some residents’ support to retain the name.

“We had 1,500 signatures of people in favor of keeping the name,” she said. “We were supposed to get a committee together and go over things about changing the name.”

Councilman John Denny told the remote audience that council is within its rights to vote during a workshop, as has happened with past issues.

“A workshop is not a special meeting,” he said. “We have one every month. It wasn’t a secret.”

Denny and Vogel, along with fellow council members George Steward and Bob Smith, defended the name change by saying it was a move to make the township more inclusive.

“Council as a whole felt we should move forward with this,” Stewart said. “This decision was not made without getting lots of information, and we wanted to change the name because it is a known racial slur.”

Chuck Vogel admitted that he wasn’t aware until recent months that the word “squaw” was a sexual slur against Native American women.

“The right thing to do is to remove a racial slur,” Vogel said. “It’s an embarrassment to have that associated with a township park.”

Several residents applauded council’s move, saying the swift action made them proud to live in the township.

Others, such as Karen Gallo, said “it’s annoying. If everyone’s so offended, maybe they should give up all their property and give it back to the Indians.”

“For the sensitive people that can’t take the history, perhaps they should go somewhere else,” Gallo said.

Resident Katie Hourvitz said the park name should’ve been preserved as a way to teach history and promote understanding.

“I don’t think a week or two is enough time to spend studying a name that’s been around 100 years,” she said.

Council President Bob Smith said educational signs will be installed throughout the park to detail the history of the area. But, he disputed that the park name held any historical significance in relationship to the facility.

“I was interested in the history of how the park was named but there is no record in the township, we’ve checked all the data,” he said. “So to me, there is no history of the park name.”

He went on to say that the change was right for the entire township because it is hurtful to some.

“The decision can’t be made by contest,” he said. “We don’t take a poll when we raise the taxes, we do what’s best.

“It didn’t matter how many people were for it or against it, we did what we think is best for the community.”

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